Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127405
B~Gucr~~~_~_SU_.S_.N_ ·~_oo_ili ~ e ~ o G(") ... Q.) ..0 o ..... u o - Records tumble at Atco By T on y W illiams ATCO, N], ocr. 6 or Larry McBride , Bill FUTT, Andy Gotsis a nd David Schultz th e condi tions - a very sticky track, coo l tempera tures, and den se air that presented the m selves at Atc o Raceway provided the key to perfor- ' mances never before seen at any other motorcycle drag race an ywhere in the world. And from a ll over the world they ca me. From 'En g la n d , H oll and , Sweden , Australia and Swi tzerland to witness th e quickest motorcycle drag race ever held , the 27th Annual ProS tar Or ient Express U.S. Nationals. Unfortunat ely, a sudden rai n storm washed ou t Sunday's final eliminations after ro und one, forcing most to hang out un til Monday. Those who skipped work and came back will never . forget what they saw. In the EBC Brakes T op Fuel Classic, McBride enjoyed the best weekend of racing in hi s l6-year career. Not only did the 33-year-old owner of Cycle F 18 Special ists from Newport News, Virgi n ia, win h is second co n secu tive ProStar U.S. Nationals, th e APE/ ' ART/Megacycle/Whip pl e Industries Suzuki rid er left New j ersey as the quickest man ever on two wh eels. McBrid e recorded not one but two 6.492 second elapsed tim es. H e also set both ends of th e ProS tar Top Fuel National Record at 6.492 and 214.38 mph. McBride was not the on ly T op Fuel rider thundering at Atco. Defendin g World Champi on Elmer T re u of Demorest, Georgia, made hi s presen ce known during qualifying, pa cing th e eight-bike field with a superb 6.516/ 217.93 (temporarily the quickest ever) on th e Arias/ APE/ Autolite/Performan ce Machine/Tretr's Speed & Cus tom Kawasaki, foll owed by McBrid e at 6.573/218.25 (top speed of the meet). Third was Yamaha-powered Brian johnson from Sunningdale, England, who scored a spot in bot h the APE 6-Second and 200 MPH Clubs by virtue of a 6.8641202.76 pass . The quickest of th e turbo bikes was ridden by T ony Lan g, who qualified the Lang Tunin g/Pingel Enterprises Suzuki fourth a t 7.164 with Ralph 'Sm i th , jim Mangus, T erry Kizer and Ron Webb 's 7.328 rounding o ut th e field. Failing to qual ify were Pet er Bossert from Sw i tzerland on a fo rm er Or ient Express Suzuki and Suzuki-powered Ron Krol from Ohio. In round one, Trett took a motor exp lo d in g 6.65 7/1 87.74 win from Sm ith on th e " Big 4" Kawasaki at ·7.350/ 161 wh ile Johnson turned in his best run of th e weekend at 6.819/ 208.40, topping Kizer 's 7.441-178/53. McBrid e took a 6.682/208.82 singl e when Mangus's motor lost three of its four cyli nders after the burnout and had to be shu t down. Lang had Webb covered in their match until Lang 's Suzuki drifted towards the guardra il at 800-feet forcing him to lift wh ile Webb drov e by on his Webb 's Snow Rem oval & Paving " Fire & Ice" blown Kawasak i from Alaska, to take th e victory, 7.252 to 7.537. Round two on Monday had Trett facing johnson with McBrid e schedu led to run Webb. Unfortunately for Webb, he was not ab le to change hi s air line tickets and thus gav e McBride a free ride into the final. For McBride it gave h is crew chief, Harold Adcock , a chance to try a different clutch and blower overdrive setting. " After learning that Ron (Webb ) would not be abl e to race on Monday, we decided to put some weight on the clu tch, add a hi gh er percen tage of n itro and spin th e' blo wer about five-percent faster just to see wh at wou ld ha ppen ." Wh at happen ed was some thi ng th at no one expected. After launching like a rocket (1.06 to the 60 foot mark) McBride lit up the scoreboard just 6.492 seconds lat er, recordin g the quickest run in motorcycle drag raci ng h istor y at 214.38 mph. " Boy, it' s a sha mewe hav e a 20 mph cros s wind," said Adcock , " It would have run over 220. I'm sure of that!" j oh nson then locked horns in his " dream" race with Trett to see who would face McBride in th e final. j ohnson, wh o came to America " j us t to smoke Elm er," almos t got hi s wish as Treu was as leep on th e green (.445 to .240) and th e rider from England was well out in front at the eigh th mil e. johnson, wh o was without a doubt on a solid six-second pass (recording hi s best 60 foot tim e ever at 1.09) led Trett by at least five bike lengths at the halfway point when , sudden ly, his Yamaha mad e a move towards the guardrail and he had to lift and then wa tch Trett slid e by at 7.053/ 197.10 to his shut-off 8.335 at on ly 108.93. The fin al pitted the two quickest Top Fuel ers in the wor ld with Trett's 6.5 I second " Mo u nta i n Magi c" against the 6.49 seco nd Suzuki of McBrid e's in what most felt wou ld be the q ui ckest side-by-sid e run in h istory . H owever, it didn't turn out that way. Trett mis cued on hi s burnout, fai ling to heat th e tire and wit ho ut a hot tire it is very difficu lt to hook up 950 hor sepo wer. On the gree n, T reu